Chomper's new path
by ReaderWriter42
Summary: Chomper has grown in the last few years, now he must eat meat or starve. How can he live with his choices, how will he survive? Read to find out, R&R too. Hope you enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Ch 1. Prologue

(Author's Note: The first chapter is a narration, the rest of the story will be first and third person point of view)

It was a beautiful day in the Great Valley and Chomper was sitting in his favorite spot, in the middle of a small, privet meadow.

He has been living there for almost 4 years, and to him they have been the best in his life. He and his friends Littlerfoot a longneck, Cera a threehorn, Ducky a swimmer, Spike a spiketail, Petri a flyer, and Ruby a fastrunner, went on many great adventures, and when they weren't doing that they were all playing every day together. He had a safe home, good friends, and plenty of food to keep him fed.

That was up until recently.

It is true that for leaf eaters, or flat teeth, the Great Valley had all the grass, treestars, and water greens they could eat, but Chomper was different, he was a sharptooth, a meat eater.

The only reason he could stay was because he has friends that are flat teeth that live in the great valley. They had the Council promised that he would never eat meat, and Chomper was fully prepaired to keep that promise except for one little problem, he was growing and fast.

The normal diet of bugs, grubs, and buzzers that he had survived so long on were 'getting too small. They always fed him so why should they stop?' he thought. There was every type of bug that could be imagined for him to eat so there was no need to worried he gust needed to find the bigger ones.

He did just that, but every year he had to find more and more to eat, in the last year he had started to get thinner and weaker so he hadn't been playing much at all to save energy. Only every other day did he hang out with them, the rest of his time was spent sleeping and trying to find food.

One day Chomper was sitting and watching his friends play a game of pass the seed. It was tossed into the air while Petrie caught it in his talons and actually managed to fly off with it! 'WOW! Petrie has never been able to do that before! He sure has grown a lot.'

Then it hit him like a rock. Petrie had grown a lot, so had he and his other friends. His memories of when Cera's horns started to come through and when Littlefoot started to look down at Mr. Threehorn to make eye contact!

It dawned on him gust how much he had grown, he was only a few inches shorter than Ruby, who herself was about at shoulder height of a full grown fastbitter.

About half of his baby teeth had been replaced with his adult ones that give Sharpteeth their name, at first he had been proud of it but now he remembered what they were for and it filled him with a since of dread.

From that day forward Chomper spent more time searching for food, but as the cold time approached that was getting harder and harder to do. One day it came to a point that he had to explain to Ruby about not finding enough to eat and ask her for help. "You need help so help you I will!"

Ever since Ruby had been with Chomper she had taken care of him like an older sister or something, and strangely enough that is in a way how he thought of her, 'Like Ducky and Spike' he would sometimes thing to himself.

He swore that one day he would somehow re-pay her for what she has always done for him.

But even though he had a food crises on his hands there were some good things about living here for so long, most of the other valley residents have stopped pestering him for being a sharptooth, they figured that if he was going to do something that he would have done it by now so there were some things good going for him.

But his entire life would come crashing down on his head with the coming of the next cold time as he must face death in a way he never imagined before, because no matter who you are or what you do nobody can escape fate.


	2. Chapter 2 Facing the problem

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Land Before Time or the characters.

Author's note: when a character talks with 'these in-between what they say' they talk with themselves at a different point of view, like another voice in their heads.

Also to be clear I am very southern, and sometimes will use terms and phrases I hear every day that some of you might not understand, I'm sorry if I do and I will try not to do so that you all can better enjoy the story.

Chapter 2. Facing the problem

It was a freezing day in the middle of the cold time and Chomper was cold, hungry, and miserable. He had hardly eaten in two days. Only a few beetles and some half-frozen buzzers.

Sure the fact that it was the cold time was one of the reasons that food was scares, but this year was unnatural. Most of the bugs in the valley had ether gone into hibernation or has died, but the real reason there were so few insects was because during the last year Chomper had been eating the bugs faster than they had been reproducing, and now it was starting to show.

Ever since he asked Ruby to help him find food she has to the best of her ability, but even with her help there were good days and bad ones, and it seemed that the bad ones weren't going to stop.

On warmer days Ruby would try to catch fish but in this cold weather she risked hyperventilation and or freezing to death, neither of which she wanted.

Now they were searching for anything for Chomper to eat, but like I said the bad days kept on coming.

"I'm sorry Chomper there is no food here. Maybe we will have better luck in a different place, in a different place we will have better luck." Said Ruby who was very tired and Chomper could see it on her face.

It pained him to see her work so hard for him, no matter how much she reassured him that she was alright he knew she wasn't.

"It's ok Ruby we can try again latter. I'm going to try and get some sleep back at the cave. Thanks again for helping." He put on his best smile for her and started to walk back to his home.

As soon as he turned away his smile quickly faded to a look of depression and sadness, how he really felt on the inside.

"Well if you want me to keep you company then I will."

"O no Ruby that is ok you go and have fun with the others, besides I kind of want to be alone right now. You know if that's ok?" Interrupted Chomper, he didn't want to keep her from playing with the gang, and he didn't want her to have to take care of him all the time, because it also made him feel so helpless because of it.

Pride was one of the few things that kept him going now a days, and he wanted to keep as much of it as possible. Besides they had spent much of the day doing this and the bright circle was now high in the sky. _Ruby needs a break,_ Thought Chomper.

"Uhm… ok you know where we usually are in case u want to join in." She always tells him that even though he never comes, and she understands why.

"Ok ill keep that in mind, I'll see you later."

"Well Chomper if you say so." And with that she walked away both relieved to be able to take a break, and sad that she couldn't help him more than she was.

(Chomper's P.O.V.)

On the way back I was still keeping an eye out for food, _anything to stop the pain in my stomach. _I thought, spiteful at the lack of food, the cold, hell at just about everything.

_Why I can't help but feel so tired all the time? I know that I am tired from looking for food all day but this, this isn't natural. I'm tired from walking! Damn, Double Damn!_

"I hate this feeling, I hate the lack of food, but I Hate This DAMN FUCKING COLD MOST OF ALL!!!"

_Ha-ha that felt good, that was the closest thing to a roar I've done in a long time._ I thought with a smile.

As I finally got back to my home I felt as I would drop dead at any moment, back then it was a real possibility.

Finally I got back to my spot in my cave and simply dropped with a thud. _Man does it feel good to finally relax a bit._ And with a big smile I got comfortable among the leaves and grass that I had placed there for warmth and comfort.

Suddenly a growl was heard and when I realized what it was I only sighed and lade my head down again reminded that I was still hungry, starving in fact. _Maybe sleep would make the feeling go away, it usually did._

But no matter how I twisted and turned sleep would not come to me, I tried to stay as still as possible but that didn't do it either.

I breathed in a few cool brisk lungfuls of air, I couldn't keep it in any longer. Something I have been trying to cover up, to ignore had finally forced itself to be acknowledged. _If I don't do something soon,_

"I'm going to die."

It only came out as a whisper but it felt like a large burden had been lifted. A chill went up my spine it felt so good, a little too good. But I hated the fact about what was going to happen to me, I didn't want to admit it but there was no denying it any longer.

(Flashback, a few days ago.)

I remembered a while back when I went to get some water, the small pond that I went up to had water so still that my reflection could be seen almost perfectly, and what I saw scared me.

My ribs could be seen on my body, my face looked like it was a hundred years old, and my tail looked half as thick as it should have been! I knew then what was going on but I refused to accept it. I remembered thinking that there was no way that I could look like that, not while I was so young.

(End flashback.)

But now I knew why and accepted it, I was going to die if I didn't do something, but the only thing came to mind was _"That."_

_No. No anything but that, there has to be some other way._

'Face it, there is no other way but that.'

_No I would never, not in a million years!_

'O come now be reasonable, if you don't you know what will happen'

_No! I only need to look harder for crawlers and buzzers, and when the water gets warmer Ruby will get me more silver swimmers!_

'Fine, what if you do make it through this cold time what about the next? What about the one after that, and so on and so on? Well? You are only going to get bigger and bigger, nothing you do will stop it.'

_Well I, I, don't know…_

'How long do you think that you can run away from fate? There is only one answer to the problem you face and it's all over this valley.'

_No! These are my friends, my family, they have trusted me for so long. I can't betray them._

'Are you so naive to think there is a way around this?!'

_There is! There must, I can't do _That_!_

'Are you that blind to the truth? Would you allow yourself to starve to the point of death?'

_What! NO! No, I can't die! I'm not ready! There is so much left for me to do in life. _

'You know that there is only one way out of this, do you?'

…

_I can't get caught, who knows what they would do to me. _

'But you know what you must do, you have no other options left.'

While all this went on in my head I never moved an inch, if someone was watching they would never know I had made the hardest decision of my life.

I never wanted this day to come.

I had to eat meat.


	3. Chapter 3 Time has changed us

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Land Before Time or the characters.

The next day I woke up earlier than usually so I didn't really want to get up right away. Yesterday I made the biggest decision of my life. I decided that I had no other choice but to eat meat.

_I have no other choice; no one can blame me for trying to stay alive._ That is what I kept telling myself to put my mind at ease, but it didn't really help.

One thing was certain, absolutely no one could know. No one.

If anyone found out about what I was going to have to do I'd be driven out of the valley, or worse. The valley residents might even try to kill me! But that won't matter because in my current state I wouldn't survive out in the Mysterious Beyond more than a few days. I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't become food myself.

I spent what felt like the next several hours, lying down on my spot in my cave thinking up a plan to get away with eating meat.

It would have to be done where no one could see me. I need to take someone I've never met because I could never hurt any of my friends, or their family, or whoever it was that I had to kill. The very idea of eating someone sent chills up my spine.

In the middle of my thoughts a hand came over and touched me on the shoulder to try and wake me up. It was shaking me softly.

"Shit!" I was so scared I nearly jumped out of my skin!

"Whoa! Whoa! Calm down Chomper, your acting like I'm Redclaw or something!" said Ruby backing away a bit.

When I looked up at her I was expecting a look of horror on her face, but instead there she was with a big old smile on her face, something that shocked me. Would she still smile at him if she knew what I was planning, or would she run for her life?

"Don't sneak up on me like that! I think my heart almost stopped." I said with a smile

Ruby gave a big laugh and shook me harder. "Come on get up, we need to get going to find you some food."

The smile quickly faded from my face. _She can't help now, not anymore. _

"Ruby, you go and play with the others today, I kind of want to be alone for a while." With that I lied back down and pretended to go back to sleep ignoring her peas for me to get up.

(The gang's P.O.V.)

Ruby was very worried about Chomper. He never got enough food now a days, he never spends time outside of the cave for anything but food and water, and a part of her feared that he was getting too big to stay on a diet of bugs.

She has a bad feeling deep inside her that one day soon he will ether die or start to become too desperate and start to resort to _That_.

She understands that food is hard to find this time of year and that every year he needs more and more of it. So as she ran towards the place that she and her friends meet every day, Ruby began to try and think of anything to hold off the in evitable.

The lack of food was really starting to affect him in more than one way. For one his bones can be seen under his skin. That freaks people out the most because no ever suffers that much from the lack of food in the valley. But what is more dangerous is that Chomper is slowly losing hope that he will make it through this cold time, and the loss of hope is worse than any suffering.

"Ooooggh, if only Chomper had been hatched as a fast runner like me instead of a sharptooth, then he could eat meat and plants." She said angrily to herself, still unable to find any solution to her dilemma.

Of course that wasn't the only reason she wished he was a fast runner, but she would never tell anyone why. _Come on, this isn't the time to be thinking about that. I need to find some way to keep Chomper fed, other than _that _of course. I can't give up, I can't let him down. Not this time. _

"I only need to help him until the end of the cold time, then there will be more food for him." She said to herself, trying to raise her spirits, but part of her knew that no matter how hard she or Chomper tries he won't be the same ever again. Or he won't live to see the next spring.

Ruby was on the verge of tears, she knew there was nothing that she could do, but still she can't give up, she won't.

Ruby was so caught up in trying to hold off her tears and get back to her thoughts that she didn't notice the young long neck in front of her until, _POW!_

"Hay! What gives!?" demanded Littlefoot, as he turned around to see what had rammed into him. That's when he spotted the fast runner rubbing her head."Ruby?"

"Ow. What did I run into, a bolder?" She asked herself, as she looked to see who or what had called her name. " Littlefoot? O my! Did I run into you?"

"Yeah, but that's ok. What were you running from?" Asked Littlefoot who was now a little concerned thinking something might be chasing her.

"O no one, I was trying to hurry to catch up to you guys so that I would not be late." She responded to put her friend's mind at ease.

"Well alright, but are you ok, I stumbled when you ran into me so that must have hurt." "I'm ok really, I'm really ok." She said reassuringly.

"Well that's good, come on the others must be waiting for us." And with that the two dinosaurs went off to find their friends. But after a few seconds Littlefoot paused and looked back towards the direction Ruby came from. "He's not coming today is he?

Ruby sighed and simply said no. After a quick glance back Littlefoot nodded and faced the direction they were headed.

Soon though they reached the others and found that they were talking amongst themselves.

It is easy from far away to see how much they have grow over the years, all of them have gown a lot but they have also changed in other ways than that.

Cera's skin has grown into a more orange tone all over her body instead of turning gray like most three horns at her age, but the thing more noticeable was that her two forward horns had finally started to grow out. Now they are about twice as big as her nose horn and she couldn't fell more proud of them. The only one who probably seemed more proud was her father.

Spike has also grown a lot like that, his skin was a darker touch of green and his spikes and plates have grown from tiny nubs of bone to the same proportionate size that the rest of him was. And just like Cera he was proud of them, especially his spikes. But unlike Cera he didn't go around bragging about them, even though he can't speak he has more self control than her.

O and one more big thing, he doesn't go around eating everything now! Mr. Thicknose told him one day that him eating everything he could was unhealthy, so he worked hard and broke his bad eating habit. Since then he has had a much healthier life style.

When it comes to Ducky not much has changed, her siblings' skin has all grown into a type of green similar to their mother's, but Ducky's has largely stayed the same tone of light green. The crest on top of her head has grown a little bigger. but that's about it.

Petire has developed into a flyer similar to his uncle, his crest has grown, his beak is much straighter, and his talons are much sharper. But they are still small and show his young age.

Littlefoot has the same story as Ducky, he has definitely become by far the biggest in the group, and his skin has barely changed at all only becoming a little browner. His neck and tail have grown much longer than most longnecks his age and he uses them to help him out with his daily life.

Other than that he is just a normal kid, one that goes on outrageous adventures, has friends of all shapes and kinds, and has faced many grown sharpteeth dozens of times his own size and defeated them all. So other than all that yah, he's a normal kid.

Even though the gang has grown up a lot these past few years all of them still say and do things that they did when they were younger, only not as much. Ruby still says things twice sometimes while Petrie still has pretty bad grammar, all the time. Ducky will sometimes say yep yep yep and Spike, well Spike still doesn't really say much of anything, whether he can't speak or simply his choice not to only he knows.

But back to the story now.

"Hello my friends, my friends hello!" Called out Ruby.

Every one of them looked up from what they were doing and Ducky and Petire looked a little sad when they saw them coming. "Hay you two, what's the matter, you guys look sad that we are here. You aren't are you?" Asked Ruby.

"No we glad you here, it's just that…" Began Petrie, "Just what?" Questioned Litttlefoot.

"They lost a bet, to me!" stated Cera, butting in.

Cera has been betting with others every chance she gets for a number of reasons, one is that she believes that she is almost always right, and two the cold time is as boring as hell.

There is almost nothing new worth doing during the cold time, all they do are that they play games that they have played hundreds of times before. The Mysterious Beyond is far too dangerous this time of year because the sharpteeth can get very desperate for food this time of year.

They don't go exploring as much like they used to because they have been all over the valley and found most places worth looking for, but they still have the spirit and will go looking for anything if one of them hears an interesting rumor.

"They owe me the first five sweet bubbles they find to me when the cold time ends, and trust me I won't forget." She explained while giving them a glare at the end. Both Petrie and Ducky gulped at the same time when Cera looked at them.

To take some of the pressure off of them he asked Cera what they betted on.

"We wanted to see if Chomper would come at all this week, and he didn't, so I win!" proclaimed Cera with her head held high. Littlefoot sighed and shook his _head sorry I, asked_ he thought in his head.

In a way to change the subject he subjected that they began to play a game of pass the seed.

By the time the Bright Circle was half way up to the top of the sky the game was tied nine to nine. Littlefoot, Spike, and Ducky vs. Ruby, Cera and Petrie. One of their favorite mach ups.

"Ok everyone next point wins!" called out Littlefoot. It was Littlefoot's team's ball and Ducky passed it off to Spike but it was taken as Ruby ran in and took it right before he got it.

Now she passed it off to Cera who tried to hit it in by ramming it with her head but Littlefoot threw his tail in front of it just as it was about to go in and hit it over her head to Ducky. She then tried to push it towards the goal but Petrie grabbed it with his claws and passed it back to Ruby, but it over shot and it went straight to Spike.

He took great and careful aim and shot it towards the goal, Petrie tried to block it but the seed was traveling too fast and it went straight into the goal, along with Petrie as well!

"Alright we win, we win!" Cheered Ducky as she jumped up into the air.

"Hay, where is Petrie?" asked Littlefoot looking around.

"Ouch me ok, head only a little dizzy." Replied Petrie walking out of the bushes rubbing his head a little. As he tried to fly up into the air he immediately fell back down holding his right wing. "Crap! Me not ok, not ok!" He yelled out in pain as he landed on his back.

"O no! Petire what's wrong?!" Called Ruby as they all ran over to see what was hurting their friend.

"Me know what this is, this is broken wing. Ooo Mama gona kill me, again." Petrie sighed with a very worried look on his face, not about his wing, that will heal. He was scared about what his mother will do to him.

The gang gave each other a look, because this meant that Petrie won't be able to go out and play with them. Because of his wing, and mom who has become much more strict since the,_ accident_.

They might as well prepare for a pretty boring cold time.

What little they knew was that it will soon become much more eventful than they think

(Chomper's P.O.V.)

_She has been gone for a long time and no one was near the entrance of my cave, maybe I should go now. _I thought to myself.

I had to find someplace secret that has no adults, and there were plenty of places like that in the valley, but what I really needed was to find a way to hunt without getting caught by anyone.

As I rushed out of the cave I began to search my memories for anything that could be of use.

Eventually my mind fell upon one in particular that happened a long time ago on my parents' island, one of a few good memories left of my time spent there. Little did I know but that memory might just save my life.


End file.
